About
Profit Trail bookkeeping was formed out of frustration with finding reasonably priced bookkeeping services that were familiar with the nuances of real estate investing and property management to help a parent that needed some help. I had a friend, and longtime bookkeeper, telling me that at most we needed 2 hours of bookkeeping a month. We received quotes for up to $36,000 per year! At one point we were sent a $200 bill for a free consultation. The experience highlighted the dire need for a bookkeeping firm that takes it upon itself to to advocate for what is best for its clients. In financial lingo this means having a fiduciary responsibility to its clients.
A fiduciary responsibility is a legal obligation to act in the best interest of your customer. This includes:
- Duty of loyalty: Fiduciaries must act without personal conflicts of interest.
- Duty of care: Fiduciaries must make decisions with reasonable diligence and prudence.
- Duty of good faith: Fiduciaries must make decisions that are free of self-interest and in the best interest of the beneficiary.
- Duty of confidentiality: Fiduciaries must keep information confidential and avoid using it for personal gain.
- Duty to disclose: Fiduciaries must disclose any information that could impact the beneficiary or their ability to uphold their fiduciary duties.
At Profit Trail Bookkeeping we specifically take this responsibility to mean that we partner with our clients for mutual success, always behave in a way that is honest and open, and occasionally have to be frank when a client's financial position is not looking good.
About the owner
Profit Trail Bookkeeping is a small family owned business that was founded by Ryan Lowe. As a practicing mechanical engineer Ryan's professional existence overlapped with financial accounting in many ways that he would only later appreciate. For example he oversaw the purchase of a $1M molding machine for a manufacturing company. Understandably his management required a robust financial justification complete with forecasts of uncertain future cash flows before approving the purchase.
In other cases as his projects stretched into multi-million dollar contracts over multiple years it became necessary to understand burdened labor rates, overhead, invoicing, fees, forecasts and many other financial concepts just to ensure that projects were both technically and financially a success.
Ryan's bookkeeping journey formally began out of the struggles described above as part of the family's business. When no suitable bookkeeping partner could be located, he assumed the role as the bookkeeper, on top of his full time job. Astonished by how much insight into the business a few hours of bookkeeping per month could create, he expanded his knowledge over time through training and certification and ultimately founded Profit Trail Bookkeeping to bring his vision of a bookkeeping firm that 'makes things easy', while maintaining a fiducial responsibility to its clients a reality.